HBO and Netflix went into the Golden Globes as major favorites and, while Netflix snagged a pair, including best drama for The Crown, HBO did not win a trip to the stage.
Instead, the night belonged to FX, while AMC and its miniseries The Night Manager almost stole the show. As it had done at the Emmys, FX’s The People v. OJ Simpson was a big winner, grabbing a trophy for limited series and Sarah Paulson winning for actress in a limited series. Donald Glover proved he’s a significant young talent as his new series Atlanta won best comedy, and he won best comedy actor.
Glover ended up thanking a number of people between his two trips to the podium, including the city of Atlanta and its black community, and Atlanta director/producer Paul Simms and FX Networks chief John Landgraf for “being ahead of their time.”
PHOTOS: 2017 Golden Globes TV Winners
The Night Manager, a six-episode co-production between BBC and AMC, won thrice—supporting actor (Hugh Laurie), supporting actress (Olivia Colman) and Tom Hiddleston (actor) getting celebrated. The show’s overseas locale and international cast scored well with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Amazon had owned the comedy category in recent years, though its comedies are more half hours than sitcoms. The streaming service picked up one prize—Billy Bob Thornton for his best actor work as a boozy lawyer on drama Goliath.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is known for often eccentric picks, as well as showing a bit more love for broadcast TV than the Emmys. Tracee Ellis Ross won best comedy actress for her role on ABC’s Black-ish—an honor that The CW stars had won in 2015 and 2016.
It was a memorable first trip to the Globes for Ross. “This is for all the women, women of color and colorful people,” said Ross, adding that their “thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important.”
“I want you to know,” she added. “I see you.”
On the film side, La La Land was a big winner, including best comedy or musical, while Moonlight took top motion picture drama.
Jimmy Fallon was a capable, if unspectacular, host for the show, overcoming a teleprompter glitch at the start and bringing the final production in a few minutes past 8 p.m. local time.
Donald Trump, as expected, was the target of plenty of barbs. Two separate winners, Meryl Streep and Hugh Laurie, noted how ‘Hollywood’, ‘Foreign’ and ‘Press’ are all targets of the incoming president.
Streep, winner of the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award, pointed out how Hollywood is full of foreigners. “If you kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts,” she said, “which are not the arts.”
